I am only an aspiring investor, but I am a local resident of Niagara Falls, NY and I am hoping I can shed some light on your question about the winters:) I have worked in the tourism industry in the past, my husband still works in tourism.

Ownership demand here seems to heavily outweigh tourism demand and i'm struggling to get anything to pencil.  

Marketing is through a dedicated tourism team, hence the higher than typical gross. 

Because of that success, and the tourism of Santa Fe, I'm assuming a STR will likely out preform a LTR with modern amenities, design, etc in place.  

We do get people coming through for ETSU and Milligan graduations, temporary stays for the VA, and some tourism in the summer and fall but you're not going to stay heavily booked. 

Short-term rentals can be a great starting point, especially in markets with high tourism or business travel.

The tourism authority has had some good information in the past about how many visitors come to each island and, of those visitors, how many book STRs.

The tourism demand is strong year-round, especially in beach towns like Panama City Beach or Destin.

I only buy in vacation markets that depend on tourism to keep their area going.

Population and economic growth, strong tourism, proximity to other New England cities.